Multi-part sled



March 8, 1960 F. x. scHNlTzLER 2,927,799

MULTI-PART SLED Filed oct. 10,1958

INVENTOR.

FRANZ X. SCHNITZLER ATToRNE/Ys ASaws Patent .0?

1 rMULTI-PART sLED .Franz X.- shnitzler, De'frit, Mich. Applicationoctober 1o, 19ss,seria1 No. 766,586VA a Claims. (onzen-1s) l Thisinvention relates -to collapsible sleds and, more particularly, to anovel and improved multi-part collapsible sled.

I-t is the primary object of the present invention to provide a noveland improved multi-part sled particularly adapted for use in carryinggame, such as deer and other large animals, which are difficult to 'dragthrough the woods after they have beenV killed.

It is another object ofthe present invention to provide a collapsiblemulti-part sled for hunting purposes and the like which may be collapsedinto a compactlightweight unit and which may be easily carried when notin use.

lIt is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedcollapsible multi-part sled which may be made from a suitablelightweight material as aluminum or plastic and which is constructed sothat game may be readily secured on it, and it may he easily pulled bymeans of a drag rope or the like. It is still another object of ythepresent invention to provide a novel and improved multi-part collapsiblesled 'which includes a plurality of interchangeable sections whereby thesled may be formed to any desirable length depending on the number ofinterchangeable sections used.

Other objects, features andadvantages of this invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description and appended claims, referencebeing had to the 4accompanying drawing forming apart of the speciicationwherein likey reference numerals-designate corresponding parts of theseveral views.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an illustrative embodiment of theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the structure illustrated in Fig.1, taken along the line 2-2 thereof, and looking in the direction ofthearrows;

2,927,799 f Patented .8 12a@ enclosed along the sides thereof bytheintegrally Vformed longitudinallyA disposed runners 15nd 1.6 whichextend downwardly from the bottom wall 14. As best seen in Fig. 3, thebottom wall 14 slopes upwardly proceeding from the rear end thereof andis rounded to ,formt l'e nose part of `the section 10iv ,The nosesection 10 is further provided with the integral'side walls 17 and ,18which terminate at theirlowerends with the outer sides of the runners 15and 16, respectively, and'whichare curved upwardly and outwardly andhave the upper ends thereof turned overly and inwardly to Yform theperipheral anges 19 and 20, respectively. The anges 19 and 20 may =besaid to be -folded back over the side lwalls .17 and 18, respectively.The frontends of the nosesection side walls 17 and 18 are curvedinwardly toward each other and meet at the front end 21 of this section`to form the front nose end of this section 10. -As best seen in Figs. 1and 2, the runners 15 and 16 extend forwardly from the rear end of thenose section 10 approximately one-half the length thereof.` The nosesection 10 is provided with the hole 22 which is formed through theforward portion of the bottom wall 14 and to which is adapted to bemounted any suitable drag rope as23.

As shown in Fig. 1, the bottomV wall 14 and Athe side walls 17 and 18terminate in a vsubstantially straight .transverse line. The sidewalls17 and 18 areeachprovided near the upper ends thereof with a rope holeas 24 and 2S, respectively.- The rear end of the nose section 10 is openfor the reception of the front section' 11`, as more fully describedhereinafter. The nose section 10 is provided with a plurality of boltholes as 26, 27 and Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevational sectional view ofthe 'n structure illustrated in Fig. 1, taken along the line 3-3thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view of the front and rear end of twosections of the sled of the present invention and showing these parts ina separated position; and,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevational sectional view of the structureillustrated in Fig. 1, taken along the line 5-5 thereof, and looking inthe direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing, an illustrative embodiment is shown whichcomprises the nose section 10, the front section 11, the central section12 and the rear section 13. The front, central and rear sections 11, 12and 13, respectively, are all identically constructed as will be morefully described hereinafter. All of the sled sections 28 formed throughthe left wall, the bottom wall and the right wall, respectively. f `vThe front, central and rear sections 11, 12 and 13, respectively, areeach identically formed and, accordingly, front section 11 will bedescribedin detail with the similar parts of the sections 12 and 13:being marked with corresponding reference numerals followed by the smallletters a and. b, respectively.-A As best seen in Figs. 1 and 4, thefront section 11 comprisesbthe bottom wall 29 which is provided alongthe outersides thereof with the longitudinally extended, downwardlydepending integral runners 30 and 31. k The front section 11 furtherincludes the outwardly and upwardly curved left and right side walls 32and 33, respectively. The side walls 32 and 33 terminate at their lowerends at the runners 30 and 31, respectively, and terminate at theirupper ends in the inwardly folded-over flanges 34 and 35. The runners 30and 31 and the flanges 34 and 35 extend longitudinally of the sled. Theside walls 32 and'` 33 cated by thenumerals 37 and 38, respectively. The

iianges 34 and 35 at the forward ends thereof are tapered downwardly andforwardly as indicated by the numerals 39 and 40, respectively. Theextreme forward ends of the side Walls and the flanges forward of thetapered portions are then formed straight longitudinally of the sled soas to be mountable within the rear end of the nose section 10, as shownin Fig. 1. The forward end of lthe bottom wall 29 of the front section11 is adapted to be mounted on top of the rear end of the bottom wall 14of the nose section 10 when the section 11 is mounted within the rearend of the section 10. The front section 11 is provided along the frontend thereof with the bolt holes 41, 42 and 43 which are adapted to bealigned with the bolt holes 26, 27 and 28, respectively, when thesections 10 and 11 are connected together. The sections 10 and 11 aredetachably secured together by any suitable means, as by the bolt andwing nut assemblies generally indicated by the numerals 44, 45 and 46which are mounted through the aforementionedA aligned bolt acarreaholes. As shown in'Fig. 4, the front end s of the longitidinl runners 30and 31 are reduced in siz'e as indicated by the numerals 47 Vand 48,respectively, so that lthese reduced runner portions on the frontsection 11 may seat inthe rear Yl'oortions ofthe runners 15 and 16 inthe nose section 10. ItWill be seen that the front end of a trailingsection is securely engaged in meshing relationshipy with the rear endof the preceding section.

As best seen in Fig. l, the side walls 32 and 33 of the yfront section11 areeach provided with rope holes therethrough as 49 and V50,respectively, which are aligned with the holes 24 and 2S in the nosesection 1t) when these two sections areV connected together. It will beseen that these aligned holes in the sides of the sled provide means forlashing an object in the sled by means of ropes secured through theseholes.

It Vwill be seen that the sections 11., 12 and 13 are each provided withrope holes along the rear ends thereof as' 5I and 52, which correspondto the holes 24 and 25`A in the nose section.l It will also be seen thateach of the sections 11, 12 and 13 is provided with the bolt holes 53,54V and 55 along the rear ends thereof which correspond tothe boltholes26, 27 and 28, respectively, in the rear end of the nose section 10. Thefront, central and rear sections 11, 12 and 13 areall formed with aslight curvature which is slightly concave facing upwardly. It willfurther be seen that the sections 11, 12 and 13 are secured together bybolts and wing nuts similar to those for connecting the' front section11 and nose section together and similar reference numerals have lbeenused followed b y the small letters a and br, respectively. Although themulti-part sled of the present invention has been illustrated as havingthe three similarl'y formedl sections, 11, 12 and 13, it will beunderstood that the sled may be formed with more or less of thesesections to make a longer or shorter sled as desired. It will be seenthat the sections 11, 12 and 13 are substantially formed straight alongthe transverse ends thereof, thatis, the front and rear ends.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the inventionherein disclosed is well calculated to fulll the objects above stated,it will be appreciated that the invention'is susceptible tomodification, variation and change without departing from the properscope ifa'ir meaning of the subjoined claims.

What I claim is:

1. In, a multi-part' sled the' combination of, a nose section;.a pair ofrunners formed in the bottom wall of'said nose section; the side wallsof said nose section curving upwardly from the outer sides of saidbottom wall and having the upper edges folded inwardly; the front endsofI the side walls of the nose section terminating in a nrounded noseportion; means` connected to the nose sectionifor pulling thel'sled; aplurality of identical sections; each of said identical sections havinga bottom wall and curved side walls having the upper edges foldedinward- 1y; the front end of each of said identical sections beingsecurely engaged in meshing relationship with the fear end of anotheridentical section; the front end of one of said identical sections beingsecurely engagedin meshing relationship withthe rear end of said nosesection; a pair of runners formed in the bottom wall of each of saididentical sections; the forward ends of the runners in each of saididenticaly sections being securely engaged in meshing relationshipwiththe rear ends of the runners of the section with which each respectiveidentical section is engaged; and, means for detachably fixing' saidsections together. l

2; In a multi-part sled the combination of, a nose section; a pair ofrunners formed in the bottom wall of said nose section; the side wallsof said nose section curving upwardly from the outer sides of saidbottom wall and having the upper edges folded inwardly; the front endsof theside walls of the nose section terminating in a rounded noseportion; means connected to the nose section for pulling the sled; aplurality of identical sections; each of said identical sections havinga bottom wallr and curved side Walls having the upper edges foldedinwardly; the front end of each of said identical sections beingsecurely engaged in meshing relationship with the rear end of anotheridentical section; the front end of one of said identical sections beingsecurely engaged in meshing relationship with theV rear endV of saidnose section; a pair of runners formed in the bottom wall ofV each ofsaid identical sections; the forward ends of the runners in each of saididentical sections being securely engaged in meshing relationship withthe rear ends of the runners of the section with which each respectiveidentical section is engaged; said sections being provided with meansfor securing. retaining lines to the sled for retaining game on thesled; and, means for detachably iixing said sections together. l

3. The structure as defined in claimv 2, wherein: the forward ends ofthe side-walls of said identical sections are tapered inwardly andforwardly to permit the meshing relationship of the forward ends ofsaididentical sections in the rearends of a next forwardly disposed section.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSSwitzerland F eb. 1,

